On our way home...

Here we are in front of the last B&B in Normandy. Hopefully travel tomorrow won't be too distrupted!

Leaving Paris for Normandy

Last morning in Paris, last stop at Maison Kayser (Best bread in the world according to NY Times) Best croissants according to me. There might not be any more posts until we return to the the Hilton on the 30th --- but who knows, internet access is spreading all over. Wish me luck because in a few hours I'll be driving in France! Should be interesting!

Last full day in Paris.... :(

This was our last full day in Paris... and not a very photo-oriented day... Started out kind of rainy and cool - stopped raining and stayed cool. We started the day (after our usual breakfast of croissants and pane au chocolate and OJ).... by going to the Institut du Monde Arab... really interesting place just 3 blocks away from the hotel that has a museum, library, language institute and a cool store with a lot of books and scarves and furniture and hookahs etc -- and a cafe that looked like it was out of Marrekesh - sit on pillows around a table... cool! The building was very interesting - modern but based on traditional arab/islamic architecture.

Then we went to the train station to go to Giverny - stopping at a Frommagerie on the way for some creamy cheese and incredible milk! Also grabbed some peasant bread from the boulangerie next door.. But alas, when we got to the train station, the lines at the ticket counter (when we finally found it!) were much too long - so we ended up booking our train trip for the rest of the trip. We will take a train to Caen, get a rental car (Avis!) and then drive to Mont St Michel where we have a B&B for the night. The next day after touring Mont St Michel, we'll drive to Bayeaux where we have another B&B booked for the next 2 nights. The next day will be for touring the D-Day beaches and seeing the tapestry at Bayeaux. Finally on the 30th we take the car back to Caen and then the train back to Paris where we stay at the Airport Hilton to get ready for our flight home early the next morning. The agent who helped us book the train and car was very helpful and nice! I have to say again that on this trip everyone we have had contact with has been extremely nice and helpful.

So, we ended up having our nice lunch in the train station instead of on the train to GIverny... :( we then opted to go to see the Monmartan Museum - lots of Monet's - in a very pretty part of Paris. On the way, we walked through a beautiful park (I took pictures so you could compare them to Moscow, Colin) There was a statue there of this french guy with big hair and a crow and a fox. Turns out that it is La Fontaine with the duck that lost his wheel of cheese to the fox because the fox was flattering her. (Yes, la Fontaine did get all his material from Aesop.) Then we tried to call home again from the park - but no answer, and the fax machine is still set to come on automatically. (To set it back to manual, just press the button at the the top right of the keyboard.)

On the way back to the hotel, we took a couple pictures of a flower shop for Teri.

Then we went to the hotel - packed up all the luggage we would not need in Normandy (we wanted to travel light on the train) and took it up to the Hilton Hotel, who will keep it for us until we get back from Normandy. Real nice taxi driver - Mom tried out her conversational french with him.

Then we celebrated our last night in Paris by going to the same restaurant that we went to on the first night, La Mariee Vert, we both had the salmon this time (Awesome again!) I had deep-fried pears with caramel-rosemary sauce - one of the best desserts I have ever had!

Reims

Today we went to Reims on the TGV - which is very fast! and expensive... Reims is a beautiful place to visit - and it was a beautiful day. First we went to the Cathedral of Notre Dame (our third this trip - I guess there are about 30 in Europe) This one was very interesting in that they are in the process of cleaning it up and building a new plaza out front. It looks like they are taking advantage of all the work to do some archealogical digging too.

Then we took a break and went to McDonalds (I know - but its a tradition...) Actually Catherine wanted to go to the bathroom - but it turn out that they were the old-style where you have to squat - so she passed on that and used the public restrooms instead.

Then we went to the Basilica of St Remy - which reminded me more of St. Denis.

There was a fascinating museum attached to the basilica that has information and artifacts from pre-historic, through Roman times and into modern times - very interesting! We wish we had known about it earlier so that we could have allocated more time for it.

Then we had another incredible meal at a brasserie in Reims - a Tirine du poullet. Yummm - I love the food in France! Then back on the train and back to Paris - where it was raining. We stopped at the Eiffel Tower and went up in the rain and wind - not too much fun - it was really cold! So we didn't stay very long and went home on the Metro.

Now I'm catching up on the blog and making plans for tomorrow - our last full day in Paris... :( But then on to Normandy!

No Reims today - we dawdled

Today we had planned to go to Reims - but we checked out some other hotels and stumbled upon Luxembourg gardens which were very beautiful! Being Sunday, a lot of people were enjoying the gardens. There was a very interesting photography show on the fence around the gardens.

Then we went to the Opera Garnier - which was still beautiful...

Then Mom chatted up one of the locals

So when we finally got to Gare de l'Est (remember that one?) It was too late to make it to Reims, so we made reservations to ride the TGV tomorrow to Reims! Should be great fun! We were both struck by how different Gare de l'Est looked this time - much cleaner and brighter! Go figure! Plus the person at the reservation counter was very nice and helpful! (In fact, we've both noticed that everyone seems much nicer to us this time.)

So then we decided to go to St. Denis - remember that was the one we tried to go to the first day and ended up way out in a part of Paris we didn't really want to be in? Well, it sure helps to be prepared and know where something actually is! I am so glad we went there - it was truly beautiful. It started out as one of the first churches in Paris. I guess this St. Denis guy got his head chopped off for some reason in Montmarte, but he didn't want to die there, so he picked it up and walked until he really died - and they built the church on that spot! It is also famous for being the place that a lot of the French kings were buried. It was re-built several times, so it has a lot of different styles. I thought the end result was particularly beautiful!

Then we went to the Musee d'Orsay and saw lots of great paintings - mostly impressionist and barbizon schools - my favorites!

Then we went to the l'Orangerie which had these huge wrap-around paintings by Monet of his gardens and ponds in Giverny (where we are headed on Tuesday) and a bunch of Picasso's etc.

Then we walked throught the Tuilleries,

Past the Louvre and Notre Dame to that little island with the creperie and the gelaterie. We ate at a new place next to the Gelato place - veg soup and quiche with a chocolate cake for dessert - and then of course a cone from the gelato place (I had the orange again - it is SOOOO good!) Have I mentioned that I like the food here?

Then once more past Notre Dame and home to our wonderful hotel! Where we plan our next day and update the blog.... G'nite!

Cluny, Chartres and Versailles

We started with Cluny this morning which is the middle ages museum. Very interesting with tapestries and carved altar pieces etc...

Then the train to Chartres where we wanted to catch a tour by this famous English guy. That was really worth it - I learned a lot! Mom got reminded of a few things.... ;-)

This is Chartres cathedral - started in 1206 if I remember right.

After the tour we went back to the train station - on the way we saw this restaurant that specializes in "Tex-Mex" food!!!

Then on the train and off to Versailles - since we saw the inside last time, we figured we'd just see the gardens in the summer - you know, with flowers and green and the fountains flowing... but they turned off the fountains just before we got there! :(

Bonjour! (Actually Bonsoir!)

Hello,

Finally got this blog started. We had a wonderful flight first class on Virgin Air to London - that is really the way to fly! I will be spoiled forever! But we got to London late and missed our Air France flight (on which first class meant next to nothing!) and did not arrive in Paris until about 3pm.... then almost 2 hours to get to our hotel by shuttle! (But we shared the ride with a couple from Spring Valley - the wife had a Mayo conference in London and they had just spent a few days in Ireland, then a couple days in Paris before going to London for the conference -- what a small world!)

We arrived on Summer Day - which is a huge celebration in Paris with a band playing on virtually every corner!!!

We had 2 bands set up just across the street. The desk clerk recommended a restaurant that was awesome - one of the best meals I've had! Then back to the Minerve to sleep.

This is the next morning on our private patio... I went to Maison Kayser and got some croisants, pain au chocolate and pain au raisin - and then stopped at a grocery for OJ. mmmm-good!

Then up to Notre Dame - in the rain! Which at time was very heavy so we purchased some hokey touristy umbrellas - you would have been very embarrassed by us!

Then we tried to go to Saint Chappelle which was closed for lunch so we tried to go to Saint Denis - I forgot the brochure at the hotel so we went to the wrong place (actually a pretty seedy part of Paris and then back-tracked... Colin - you would have hated that part!)

To make up for it we went to Maison Chocolate - Yummmm! In Paris there is always food to soothe your soul!

Then we went to the Louvre - for about 5 hours and saw a lot of great stuff... but also got very tired - but at least I finally figured out where to buy a museum pass - they no longer sell them at the metro ticket offices!

After the Louvre we were both very tired and dry so we went to the little sorbet shop on the other island - mmm good! Didn't I say something about Paris and food?